Vegetables drive fall in food price index

Food prices decreased 0.3 percent in the October 2008 month, Statistics New Zealand said today. The decrease was mainly due to the fruit and vegetables subgroup (down 6.0 percent), driven by lower prices for lettuce (down 50.7 percent), and tomatoes (down 24.9 percent). These decreases were partly offset by higher prices for potatoes (up 20.6 percent).

The main upward contribution to the food price index came from higher prices for the meat, poultry and fish subgroup (up 2.4 percent) in the October 2008 month. Within the subgroup, the main contributors were beef (up 5.4 percent), and prepared meats and smallgoods (up 6.0 percent).

Prices for grocery food were up 0.6 percent, mainly due to higher prices for bread (up 3.2 percent), which were offset by lower prices for cheddar cheese (down 4.0 percent).

For the year to October 2008, food prices rose by 9.9 percent. All five subgroups recorded upward contributions to the annual increase: grocery food (up 11.9 percent), meat, poultry and fish (up 11.0 percent), fruit and vegetables (up 12.5 percent), restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food (up 6.4 percent), and non-alcoholic beverages (up 4.7 percent). Within these subgroups, individual higher prices were recorded for cheddar cheese (up 39.2 percent) and potatoes (up 41.7 percent).